Invest & Invite Part 1

“Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” God

Opening Story

Did you make it through Valentine's Day? I just made it. My wife took me and our friends to do ax throwing. Have you ever done this? It is a game to do exactly what every boy scout and Royal Ranger mtg. ever taught you what not to do. We threw axes, inside. It was a blast. I got a “clutch.” So I’m pretty much a pro if you have any questions after the service.

What is our next holiday?

Well, there is St. Patrick’s Day but MacDonald’s has us covered there with the Shamrock Shake.

Our next big day is Easter! The time where we remember that Christ died for our sins, He was buried, He rose on the 3rd day, and He ascended to Heaven where He is preparing a place for you and me.

Oh ya, there is the Easter bunny thing also.

Question

Do you realize more people around the world, including the United States, go to church on Easter Sunday than any other Sunday of there.

Christmas is 2nd, and Mother’s Day is 3rd

Christ death and resurrection

the birth of Christ

and mom

So if more people go to church on this day than on any other day, should we treat it the same?

I believe the answer is no.

I believe we must learn from Christ’s example, we must invest in people’s lives and invite them to know Jesus as Savior & Lord. Yes, part of that is getting them involved in the local body of believers and why not us?

Scripture

John 4:1 CSB

When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John

bible verse goes here

Jesus is making disciples. We must follow His example.

John 4:4 CSB

He had to travel through Samaria;

Jesus had to travel through Samaria but He didn’t travel through Samaria because it was the only way.

It was the most direct route to Galilee but a “real” Jew would not travel through Samaria because “those people are just nasty.” Do you think people not getting along is new?

John 4:6 CSB

Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon.

Shows that Christ was fully human.

John 4:7 CSB

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her,

Uh oh. Jesus talked to a Samaritan woman. That is a no, no for the strictest Jews.

Jesus strikes up a conversation that begins the investing process.

John 4:8 CSB

because his disciples had gone into town to buy food.

Jesus talked to a Samaritan woman. That is a no, no for the strictest Jews.

a typical job for a disciple.

John 4:9 CSB

“How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

She is basically saying, “You Jews believe that you are too good to talk to us. Why are you talking to me?”

The Samaritan woman catches on right away that something is different here.

John 4:10–15 CSB

Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.” “Sir,” said the woman, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.” Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.” “Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.”

Jesus pivots from the physical to the spiritual.

When you are investing, don’t talk about the weather all day.

Jesus offers her an opportunity to “never thirst again” and she wants to know more.

John 4:16 CSB

“Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.”

John 4:16–18 CSB

“Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.” “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ ” Jesus said. “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

Jesus calls her out on her sin.

Jesus knows the backstory of those you will be investing in. You don’t need to know everything, you just need to trust Christ as He guides you.

John 4:22 CSB

You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.

The Samaritan begins to talk about the “weather.” Meaning something that is not really the point. Get to the point!

In the next few verses, Christ gets her back on track to what really matters.

John 4:28–30 CSB

Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They left the town and made their way to him.

She left behind what she thought was her purpose when she realized there was so much more.

Money is not the purpose.

Happiness is not the purpose.

Christ is the purpose.

Now Christ didn’t tell her everything. I understand when you are excited it is easy to stretch the story.

Christ invested so much in this woman. She had to invest in others.

Wow, that just maybe the entire purpose of making disciples.

Now the disciples are back in the picture and they are encouraging Jesus to take a break and get something to eat. Christ points out that what He is doing is so much more important than physical food.

John 4:39 CSB

Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.”

People will see Christ in you. They will believe because of what you do and say. They will see how you live your life and How Christ has changed you.

John 4:42 CSB

And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”

Thank you for what you have done but I now know personally that He “is the Savior of the world.”

Application

How can we invest and invite like Jesus?

Strike up a conversation.

Pivot from physical to spiritual.

Trust Christ.

Get to the point.

Challenge

If we are training in Godliness, we must be making disciples!

Begin to pray today, now. Pray for the Lord to put the people He wants you to invite to Easter on your heart and in your path.

Invest is spelled L-O-V-E and Love is spelled T-I-M-E.

We don’t have to wait until Easter to begin to invest and invite, in fact…We must not wait. Today, today, today.